1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward the management of defects on a write-once recording medium, and more particularly, to a method of managing defects in a write-once recording medium while maintaining compatibility with a rewritable reproducing and/or recording apparatus, a reproducing and/or recording apparatus for implementing the same, a write-once recording medium therefore, and a medium including computer readable code controlling the implementation of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Defect management is a process of storing user data in a spare area, when a previous attempt to record the user data in the user data area resulted in the recorded user data having a defect. Conventionally, defect management on a recording medium is performed using linear replacement or slipping replacement. Linear replacement is a process of replacing a defective sector in a user data area with a sector having no defects in a spare area. Slipping replacement is a process of skipping a defective sector and using the first good sector immediately following the defective sector.
Both linear replacement and slipping replacement can be used only for recording media, e.g., DVD-RAM discs and DVD-RW discs, to which data can be rewritten and/or to which data can be written using random access. In other words, it is difficult to apply conventional linear replacement and slipping replacement to write-once recording media. Whether a defect has occurred can be verified by actually writing data to a recording medium. However, since data cannot be re-written to write-once recording media, defect management cannot be performed on write-once recording media using these conventional methods.
Meanwhile, high-density write-once recording media, having a capacity of several ten GBs, have been developed following the development of CD-R and DVD-R recording media. These recording media are inexpensive and enable data to be read using random access, thereby having a fast reading speed. Because of these advantages, they are usually used for system backups. However, since defect management is not performed on write-once recording media, a backup is interrupted when a defective sector occurs during the backup. In particular, since the backup is usually performed while a system is not frequently used, i.e., during the night while an operator is absent, there is a high likelihood that backup is left interrupted without being resumed.
Conventionally, positional information of areas provided for defect management is disclosed by defined rules in specifications, e.g., DVD specifications, and reproducing and/or recording apparatus designers design reproducing and/or recording apparatuses based on the specifications. Accordingly, if new areas are added to a recording medium, in addition to areas used for conventional defect management, a conventional reproducing and/or recording apparatus cannot properly recognize the new areas, and defect management cannot be performed properly.